Gavin Atkin's weblog for the sort of people who like looking inside boat sheds. It's about old boats, traditional boats, boat building, restoration, the sea and the North Kent Coast
A small collection of photos from a weekend on the Swale. The sailing barge in the dawn shot is Orinico, and I have to say that dawn very much made up for having to be up at 3am to catch the tide!
(As usual on this weblog, photos remain the copyright of the photographer, and these remain mine!)
London West End yacht chandlers Arthur Beale are hosting an evening of talks with slideshows and film on the 6th October to celebrate the launch of a new edition of Philip Temple’s book The Sea and The Snow in conjunction with publishers Lodestar Books.
Start time is 18:45 sharp, so please arrive early, and the event is at Arthur Beale Ltd, 194 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8JP.
This new edition is well illustrated and includes with many previously unpublished photographs from the expedition to Heard Island, a remote speck in the far Southern Ocean, four thousand kilometres to the south-west of Australia.
In 1964 it had been the object of a number of expeditions, but none had reached the summit of its 9000-foot volcanic peak, Big Ben. Warwick Deacock resolved to assemble an impressive party of nine to tackle the challenge.
Heard had no airstrip and was on no steamer route, and the only way to get there was by sea in their own vessel, and so Deacock called on veteran mountaineer turned high-latitude sailor Bill?Tilman, already renowned for his sailing to climb expeditions, and he readily signed on…
The launch will be attended by the author Philip Temple, Bob Comlay, who later sailed to Greenland with Tilman, and the expedition’s engineer Colin Putt.
Their reminiscences, combined with a slide show and some never-released film of the expedition, will make for a memorable event; we suggest you book early to be sure of a seat.
As usual at a Beale’s talk, there will be a nominal £5 admission charge, to be refunded against any purchase to the value of £15 or more on the night – such as a copy of The Sea and The Snow!
Here’s a galllery (in no particular order) of an amazing large and thorough repair and restoration job by Stirling & Son. It’s one of those ‘how the other half boats’ moments, but impressive with it, and looking at the photos you can just smell the wood and other materials…
Will Stirling writes:
‘In May this year the 72ft Silver’s motor yacht Life Aquatic was re-launched after an 18-month restoration at Stirling and Son’s No. 1 Covered Slip at Plymouth.
‘To give you an idea of the extent of the work, every bolt was driven out and replaced and I’ve calculated that if all the seams were laid end to end the caulking gang would have raked out and re-caulked a continuous line from the yard to Plymouth city centre.
‘The Gardner 6LXB engines were restored to zero hours by Mike Harrison of Gardner Marine Diesels.
‘Following sea trials in the south west during June, we delivered her from Plymouth, via the Pillars of Hercules, to Monte Carlo where she will be based for the forseeable future.
‘I thought on a personal note you might be interested in a slide show of the job – it is something of a change from the building of the Alert that you followed a few years ago! Hope all is well, Will’
Thanks Will! I trust you’re having a great summer.
